Throughout history, human empires have risen, and they have fallen. From Nimrod’s Babylon to the great Roman Empire to the former USSR, all have toppled and are no more. The turmoil experienced throughout the 20th century up to the present day provides ample evidence of the transitory nature of human government. Man wants perfect government, but because of his rebellion against God, he has forfeited that blessing. However, God, in His mercy, has promised an everlasting Kingdom to those who come on His terms. The terms are that you must possess the perfect righteousness of God Himself. So, do you meet God’s standard of perfect righteousness? The King of this Kingdom, the Man Christ Jesus of Nazareth, God enfleshed, said the two greatest commandments are: 1) “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37) and 2) “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39b). Have you always loved the living God of the Bible with every breath & fiber of your being? Or have you blasphemed His holy Name, worshiped another god besides Him, or not even worshiped & loved Him at all? Have you always loved others—your family, your neighbors, your co-workers, even your enemies—as much as you love yourself? Or have you hated others, stolen from others, lied to others, or coveted another person with immoral lust instead of true love? Christ said that the latter and former are equivalent to adultery & murder in His Kingdom (Matt. 5:20-22a, 27-28). 

And He said that these two commandments sum up God’s holy standard; to break one breaks the whole law. The truth is, none of us possess this righteousness, nor can we attain it through human effort—“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are born with the stain of our father Adam’s first sin. Yet  “when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 4:6). Oh! How great the grace & love of God! Christ died on the cross as the wrath-absorbing substitute for you and me! He took our place, and in exchange, we get the perfect righteousness of God because He is God!  And He was resurrected to an endless life by the power of the Holy Spirit! By trusting in Him & His finished work, repenting to the true God & forsaking your former life to receive Christ, the Everlasting Life, you will receive the promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit. He is the Pledge of your inheritance, to be fully realized at the coming of Christ with His holy Kingdom. And we, being resurrected, will reign with Him! But without this righteousness and the Spirit Who testifies, all who remain in their sin will be excluded from the Kingdom, cast out “into outer darkness, where there will be weeping & gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 22:13), and at the judgment, thrown alive, for all eternity, into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, for the Kingdom of Christ is coming swiftly! Repent to Christ today—you may not have tomorrow! And read the Bible daily; start in the Gospel of John. Thank you for reading this.